Culture

For 11 days, arts and sport did mesh, but can they
coexist in an already crowded events calendar?

THE $13 million free Festival Melbourne 2006 has been so
successful that it is predicted it will leave a permanent legacy in
the city.

About 1 million people around Victoria attended performances by
the 2500 artists and 125 companies from Australia and other
Commonwealth nations. More than 700,000 revellers thronged
Melbourne's entertainment hub by the Yarra River, in both
Federation Square and the Alexandra Gardens.

The festival's executive producer, Andrew Bleby, believes its
success proves a third arts festival is needed to fill the
programming hole between Moomba and the Melbourne International
Arts Festival in October.

"There are a lot of lessons to be learned by city, state and
arts officials about how and why the festival worked, and to apply
them in future," he says.

Victorian Sports Minister Justin Madden agrees, saying the
festival's success has shown how to make best use of both sporting
and arts venues in future events, including arts festivals.

"It has created a challenge about what it means for other arts
festivals and how we use venues for both sporting and arts events,"
he says, acknowledging that free admission played a big factor in
the festival's success.

"It always comes down to money but we got extraordinary value
out of our investment in the Games and the festival," he says.

While estimates on how many people attended both Commonwealth
Games and festival events are not yet available, Madden says the
indications are that huge numbers went to both.

"It had a big impact on managing traffic, because it meant that
people were not flooding straight out of the sporting venues and
swamping public transport," he says.

Popular venues included the National Gallery of Victoria and the
Melbourne Museum.

Visitors to the NGV in Federation Square are estimated to have
reached 50,000 during the Games, more than double the usual
number.
Museum attendance figures were up 6 per cent on last April's school
holidays. The Spirit of the Games exhibition has attracted more
than 1100 visitors a day since opening on March 18.

Bleby says politicians have observed first-hand how the festival
added to the mood of goodwill and cultural exchange associated with
the Games.

"The focus might have been on sport but people were pleased to
see that everything was not just running and jumping," he says.

The Arts Centre's chief executive, Tim Jacobs, says the
festival's "fantastic public engagement" sent a message about the
organisation of future events.

"Successful festivals create legacies by involving the public
that then animates the rest of the year," he says. "Without that
there is no legacy."

He says it raised the possibility of moving the international
arts festival from spring to March, when it could tap into a
festival circuit made up of events in Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and
New Zealand in late summer and early autumn.

The festival's Arts Centre program raised only $650,000 at the
box office last year, a low return on the festival's state grant of
$5.5 million.

The festival's general manager, Mary-Ellen King, says she is
keen to discuss any move, but the March schedule was crowded by
other festivals, such as food and wine, fashion and comedy.

The opening of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival has
been delayed until next month.

Director Sue Provan is worried that the Games will affect this
year's ticket sales.

"We had a box office last year of $5.5 million and sold more
tickets than any other festival in Australia," she says.

"But I am apprehensive about what will happen after everything
that has been on offer in March."